DOMINION VALUES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11170, 28 March 1922, Page 4

DOMINION VALUES

MR FLANACAN’S VIEWS CONSERVATIVE “BOOM” ASSESSMENTS. TOWN AND COUNTRY PROPERTY. (Special to “N.Z. Times.”) AUCKLAND, March 26. It may be news to many a man that rural lands in some districts were valued on a basis of Is 4d per pound tor butter-fat by .the Valuation Department during the war boom in the prices of the Dominion’s primary pro-

ducts. yet this is the case, as stated by the Valuer-General, Mr F. W. Flanagan, who is at present in Auckland. Mr Flanagan mentioned several reasons why these prosperous country districts were valued on what was practically a 1914 basis as regards cost and price of commodities at a time when butter-fat had reached the hitherto unknown figure of 2s 6d per pound, the urincipjil one being that he considered that buyers’ cash would be limited at the end of hostilities. Ho had considered, he said, that although the necessity for these products would not diminish, the demand would be limited only by the lack of ready cash in the pockets of the British public, and this in itself would cause prices to recede. Therefore the valuations of farm lands carried out in 1919-20 upon this and similar basis were logically reasonable to-day. Thus an extensive mroiivenience that would have been caused by the necessity of revaluation was avoided.

VALUATIONS NOT DIMINISHED. The Va'uer-Goneral did not admit that the valuations of these farm lands had ccni'inshed since the last valuation, though he. freely agreed than the properties, in many instances, were unsaleable. This was caused in great measure by the tightness of money, for the lands, he. agreed, were oftcu u-isuleable ■ai any reasonable price, but that, in bt opinion, did not affect •he justice of th< valuation figures. Mauy of tlie land* had been sold, he explained, at prices that represented as much as 100 per cent., and even in some instances 170 pier cent., advance in the Government valuation, but these transactions were the result of the laud speculation rife at boomtimes. In some districts the natural progress called for revaluation every four years. some did not require *o Uo re-valued for six yeais, or even eight; and in one case he mentioned a Taranaki block had not been revalued for seven years, mainly because the land, when opened-up, did not “strip” sr well as was anticipated. THE CITY VALUES. Mr Flanagan advanced it as a peculiar economic fact that in a great many instances town values increased while mral- values were decreasing. This led to tho subject of city values, and the “Star” man learned that in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland—in fact, all the populous centres—this was a fact in New Zealand. Town values were on the upgrade, according as the cities increased, while rural values were going back from the boom assessments of both buyers and sellers. It was almost impossible, he declared,' ‘toassete values on a rising market, and tiffs "Was the position regarding the rural lands today, when the'market was slowly but steadily rising for all primary products except beef. But this difficulty was not applicable to the city. A tightness in the money market did not affect values of real estate nearly so greatly as was generally supposed. RISE AND FALL IN VALUES. In the cities, declared Mr Flanaagn, very small tlnngß affected valuation figures. For instance, a new building might change a neighbourhood from one looked down upon to a popular place; a slum area, with its decreasing value of properties, might develop; and sometimes development and extension of a centre would change the locality of its business or its residential heart. A great many factors controlled this rise or fall in values, and it was scarcely logical to take the objections of, say, ton per cent, ol property owners as a gauge of the work of the department. This ten per cent, would cover the whole oi the objections, a large* number of which were purely technical’ ones, and the majority never reached tbe Assessment Court. An ample period was given after the lodgment of an objection for the owner to meet the department and hear its explanations, and in the great majority off instances this conference resulted in the matter being artingad in a manner satisfactory to all. Of course, there were some instances when owners were not convinced, and these, in justice to the ethers, wore taken to the court. Often a man would object on the grounds that a neighbour had a lower valuation than he, but usually there was at least one particular reason for this difference.